Blockchain technology is a combination of an algorithm that performs calculations and a distributed database that stores those calculations in what is known as blockchain. This database continuously updates its digital records (for instance, of Bitcoin transactions) and does so on multiple computers simultaneously.

We know that someone named Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin but to this day, the mystery of who Satoshi is remains unsolved. Was Satoshi a man? A woman? A group? A government?
While it’s now believed to be a pseudonym, what adds to the mystery is the extreme wealth that he, she, or they have accumulated. It’s estimated that Satoshi holds around 1,000,000 Bitcoin. At the time of writing, a Bitcoin is worth roughly $7,000, which means that whoever invented Bitcoin is sitting on a fortune worth over $7 billion USD.

Distributed ledger technology, sometimes abbreviated as DLT, has been gaining traction across a wide range of industries as a result of the growing awareness of digital currencies. For some people, “distributed ledger” has secured its place as a buzzword of the decade, but many people remain foggy about what distributed ledgers are, what they do, and why they matter.

Blockchain is among the most disruptive technologies humanity has seen in decades. It has been described as having the ability to change the world as we know it on the same scale as electricity or the Internet. Why, then, has so little of the general public heard of it? And why does blockchain deserve receiving such lofty praise?
Because blockchain has far more benefits compared to traditional data structures, it is either in experimentation or adoption phases throughout nearly every industry in the world.

Bitcoin has been heralded as a world-changing technology and has gained much attention in the news and on the Internet in the last few years. This publicity has helped ignite the digital currency boom we see today. Bitcoin and blockchain are seeing worldwide adoption across a wide variety of industries, including finance, healthcare, government, and supply chain. The big question is, who controls it all?

Blockchain, popularized by pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in his white paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” is a decentralized database that is immutable and continuously reconciled. While Bitcoin made blockchain famous, what Satoshi may or may not have known is that blockchain technology would gain disruptive power on the level of electricity and the Internet, infiltrating the processes of nearly every industry of the world. Blockchain technology offers a wide array of benefits for companies that need to exchange or verify data, keep tamperproof logs, maintain transparency, track transactions, or efficiently reconcile records. Below are ten industries that are utilizing blockchain to great effect.

The term “digital currency” has made its way into the modern lexicon as new and seasoned investors alike flock toward this exciting new asset class. Digital currencies became especially prevalent in the media when Bitcoin rose to nearly $20k per coin at the end of 2017, with people rushing to take part in the “Crypto Gold Rush.”

On May 22, 2010, on a popular online forum called BitcoinTalk, a developer named Laszlo Hanyecz posted that he was hungry and craving pizza. He offered to send someone from the forum 10,000 Bitcoin in exchange for the delivery of two pizzas from Papa John’s, ordered and paid for with a credit card.
The total purchase was valued at around $30, marking what the industry has deemed to be the first ever real-world Bitcoin transaction.
Times have changed. At the time of writing, 10,000 Bitcoins are worth around $90 million USD (roughly $9,000 per Bitcoin). Hanyecz could certainly afford more than two pizzas with that amount of Bitcoin in today’s market.

Governments around the world are beginning to take sides in the great digital currency debate. China, for example, has placed restrictive and far-reaching bans on digital currency trading, exchanges, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) within the country.
On the other hand, officials in Russia are attempting to pass bills in support of legal digital currency trading.
Today, the U.S. stands somewhere in the middle, as politicians, businesses, regulators, and the general public are beginning to come to grips with the enormous impact that Bitcoin and the blockchain are having.

Regulation of digital currency has been a topic of hot debate among the governments of the world, and Canada is one country that is quickly trying to formulate its stance and instate regulations it deems necessary. As with most countries today, Canada has had mixed opinions about digital currency regulation.

All around the world, regulators and financial influencers are having dialogues about digital currency. What does it classify as—an asset, a security, something else? Is it legal? Is it taxed? Who controls it, and how can their citizens interact with it? These are just a few of the many questions governments are tasked to answer as the proliferation of digital currency gains momentum.

When digital currency is discussed in the mainstream media, it’s practically used interchangeably with the word Bitcoin. Other digital currencies are rarely mentioned. Bitcoin’s skyrocketing value and media presence have snowballed in recent years, but it’s important to note that Bitcoin mining often applies to the mining of digital currencies other than Bitcoin.

Bitcoin mining started nearly a decade ago when cryptography enthusiasts and students provided CPU power from dorm rooms and old, out-of-commission computing rigs, completing cryptographic puzzles that are a central part of mining.

January 2018 marked the nine-year anniversary of the first-ever mined Bitcoin. Digital currency mining has come a long way in those nine years, exploding into something unimaginable by most when it was in its infancy. Back in 2009, Bitcoin mining was largely just a hobby. Not many people had caught wind of digital currency at that point. The few who had were predominantly cryptography enthusiasts. Most were still in college, and the computing power on the machines they owned was minimal.

You might not know it, but Iceland is in the midst of a digital currency boom. The small yet highly innovative island nation has positioned itself as one of the biggest digital currency mining havens on the planet.

Mining is the backbone of the digital currency ecosystem. Whether it’s Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, or Zcash, any and all forms of digital currency must be mined into existence. It’s through mining that transactions are verified, blocks in the blockchain are created, and new coins enter the network.

Proof of work, usually abbreviated PoW, is the original, traditional consensus algorithm used on blockchain networks. A proof of work is the piece of data created when miners solve a block to “prove” that they put in resource-intensive work generating a nonce in order to verify transactions and add a new block of data to the blockchain. Miners are rewarded for guessing the nonce if they are the first to come up with a correct answer. Miners are rewarded for the work they contribute to the network, which is verifying transactions—a process that prevents double-spending. Miners also benefit from transaction fees.

Proof of stake, often abbreviated PoS, is newer on the blockchain scene than the original PoW. PoS is an alternative system for verifying transactions in a blockchain environment. It is not based on the amount of computational work completed by a miner, but instead requires those who validate transactions to hold a specific amount of units of a particular digital currency—a proof of stake in that currency.

Bitcoin is a digital currency. In the simplest of terms, Bitcoin is a form of money, although it is not issued by any country or government. Bitcoin can be used in much the same way as fiat currencies, like the dollar, pound, ruble, and peso. However, Bitcoin is created by an algorithm—a computer program—instead of a central bank.
If Bitcoin is so similar to fiat currencies, what makes it so special?

Ethereum, according to its creators, is a “decentralized platform that runs smart contracts.”
However, most people think of Ethereum as a digital currency, similar to Bitcoin or Ripple. While it’s true that Ethereum has agreed-upon value and is often traded for cash or used to pay for goods and services, there is much more depth to Ethereum than meets the eye. Since its presale in August 2014, the digital currency has gained such high visibility in the market thanks to the bountiful applications of the Ethereum network.

The two most arguably popular digital currencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, bear many similarities. They’re both decentralized, they both utilize the blockchain, and both are fungible between different users. Despite these similarities, however, Bitcoin and Ethereum are born out of substantially different constructs.

Many new users are confused by the existence of coins with similar names, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Some people find themselves asking whether one is a scam, where they originated, and why their names are so similar.

If you aren’t a regular reader of digital currency news, it can be confusing to hear about digital currencies with similar names. Digital currency is a fast-paced industry where major events change the landscape on a constant basis. Among these major events are hard forks, which are essentially splits in digital currency networks.

Deciding which digital currency to put time and energy into can be exhausting, especially if you’re just starting out. What makes each coin different? What should you look for in a currency? There are so many options. Consider this a crash course in Zcash (ZEC) and an explanation for why we at HIVE participate in mining this notable digital currency.

Web 3.0 is nearly upon us. You may not have even noticed the transitions that are happening on the internet today. Chances are, we’ll look back at the period between 2015 and 2020 as a turning point in the history of the internet, similar to the Web 2.0 revolution in the early 2000s.

When you use Web 2.0 platforms, you have to submit your data to intermediary institutions in order to accomplish anything online. Once you hand over your personal data, it’s hard to say what happens to it.

GET EMAIL UPDATES

By providing your e-mail address, you are consenting to receive press releases, presentations and other information concerning HIVE. You may withdraw your consent at any time by using our unsubscribe feature.